Chicago Blackhawks' Forsling making a name for himself
WARNING: There are no knock-your-socks-off quotes coming from Gustav Forsling in this story. No witty one-liners. No great prose and no profound wisdom.
But that's OK.
Because while Forsling is as quiet, polite and unassuming of an athlete as you'll ever meet, he has cranked up the volume on the ice and is turning into quite a well-rounded defenseman for the Blackhawks.
And that's all coaches and teammates can ask for.
"He's been killing more plays and been way more influential," said coach Joel Quenneville. "That comes with a little bit more composure, experience and poise."
Forsling played 38 games for the Hawks last season and 30 in the AHL for the Rockford IceHogs. This season, the 21-year-old was confident coming into camp but also realized there would be some stiff competition from Michal Kempny, Cody Franson, Jordan Oesterle, Ville Pokka, Erik Gustafsson and Viktor Svedberg.
"I went in with that mentality to take a spot," Forsling said. "But for sure, I wasn't sure I was going to take one. Anything can happen. Yeah, I was nervous."
Six weeks later, he's as poised as any D-man on the team.
Forsling's role has exploded recently as he's now seeing time on both the power play and penalty kill. He even has 2 goals in the last four games and they did plenty to quiet an opponent's stadium.
The first came at Carolina on Nov. 11, tying the game at 3-3 in the third period. The Hawks went on to win in overtime. Exactly one week later, Forsling gave the Hawks a 1-0 lead at Pittsburgh in a 2-1 victory on a shot that sneaked between Matt Murray's legs.
Even if that wasn't where he was aiming.
"I wanted to shoot it under the arm," said a smiling Forsling. "But it went pretty good. Sometimes you have to be lucky."
(So I lied. Not a bad one-liner there from the Swede).
Lately, Quenneville has teamed Forsling up with fellow rookie Jan Rutta. It's an interesting pairing in that neither has much NHL experience, but Quenneville trusts them to do the job together.
"They've contributed offensively while going out there and playing against high-quality players and giving quality minutes to the team," said veteran defenseman Cody Franson. "When you can get guys to go out there and do that kind of job, it gives guys like Duncan (Keith) a little bit of a breather. He doesn't have to play that many minutes. …
"Being as inexperienced as they are and taking the load on that they have, they've done a very good job."
Forsling and the quick-witted, humorous Rutta are roommates on the road and you couldn't ask for more of a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde personality difference. But that's OK because, as Forsling points out: "We think the same out there on the ice."
Forsling, who was drafted by Vancouver in 2014, came to the Hawks via trade when GM Stan Bowman sent Adam Clendening to the Canucks in January 2015. The Hawks certainly got the better end of the deal as Clendening is now playing for Arizona's AHL team, while Forsling - who will be a restricted free agent in 2019-20 - might be a fixture on the Hawks' back end for years to come.
"Last year at the beginning of training camp he wowed us to a different level," Quenneville said. "There's still upside to his game. We feel he can turn out to be somebody who could play a lot."
Even if he does it without saying much along the way.
• Follow John on Twitter @johndietzdh
Stepping up
Blackhawks defenseman Gustav Forsling has seen more quality ice time as this season has progressed.
Opponent TOI PP PK
Pitt. 18:45 0:50 0:00
Clb. 19:43 0:00 1:25
Tor. 16:23 0:27 3:26
Mont. 18:07 0:00 2:46
Minn. 16:39 0:18 4:07
Nash. 15:37 0:43 2:30
St.L. 16:49 0:38 3:06
Edm. 16:47 0:03 0:27
Arizona 20:01 0:00 3:10
Vegas 19:09 0:00 5:21
Nash. 17:15 0:21 4:28
Colorado 5:13 0:13 1:19
(Misses 3 games with injury)
Phil. 21:58 0:04 1:32
Car. 21:26 0:03 3:05
N.J. 22:13 1:50 2:36
NYR 19:59 3:16 3:04
Pitt. 23:59 3:21 2:57
TOI - Time on ice; PP - power-play; PK - penalty-kill